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Rock Music: 1950s
"Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay": Rock Music in the 1950s
The term rock 'n' roll was popularized by Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed in 1951 to describe the break through music scene. These library resources exhibit the birth of rock music, the pioneers who revolutionized the genre, and the youth culture that it embodied.
Books
Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll: The Birth of Rock in the Wild Years Before Elvis by
Long before Elvis Presley entered Sam Phillips's Sun Records studio in 1954, rock 'n' roll was being performed and recorded by the likes of Big Joe Turner, Louis Jordan, Wynonie Harris, the Clovers, the Dominoes, the Midnighters, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Wanda Jackson, and Johnny Ace. More than just a series of shrewd and evocative portraits of these and sixteen other performers, this book is also a paean to a forsaken time of relentless excess, sudden ruin, and fierce music. For this edition, the author has contributed a new listing of recent CD reissues. From 1945 to 1955, from Chinese hillbillies to Elvis's long-lost twin brother, here are the Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll.
Call Number: ML394 .T67 1999ISBN: 0306808919Publication Date: 1999-05-07
Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll by
From the author of the critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biography: Last Train to Memphis brings us the life of Sam Phillips, the visionary genius who singlehandedly steered the revolutionary path of Sun Records. The music that he shaped in his tiny Memphis studio with artists as diverse as Elvis Presley, Ike Turner, Howlin' Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash, introduced a sound that had never been heard before. He brought forth a singular mix of black and white voices passionately proclaiming the vitality of the American vernacular tradition while at the same time declaring, once and for all, a new, integrated musical day. With extensive interviews and firsthand personal observations extending over a 25-year period with Phillips, along with wide-ranging interviews with nearly all the legendary Sun Records artists, Guralnick gives us an ardent, unrestrained portrait of an American original as compelling in his own right as Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, or Thomas Edison.
Call Number: ML429.P54 G87 2015ISBN: 9780316042741Publication Date: 2015-11-10
Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock by
Written in 1968 and revised in 1972, Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom was the first book to celebrate the language and the primal essence of rock 'n' roll. But it was much more than that. It was a cogent history of an unruly era, from the rise of Bill Haley to the death of Jimi Hendrix. And while telling outrageous tales, vividly describing the music, and cutting through the hype, Nik Cohn would engender a new literary form: rock criticism. In his book's wake, rock criticism has turned into a veritable industry, and the world of music has never been the same. Now this seminal history of rock 'n' roll's evolution is available once more -- as riotous a spree as any in rock writing.
Call Number: ML3534 .C636 2001ISBN: 0802138306Publication Date: 2001-10-24
Big Beat Heat: Alan Freed and the Early Years of Rock & Roll by
This is the story of Alan Freed's life. He brought the sounds of rhythm and blues to an increasingly integrated audience starved for rock and roll, and in Cleveland he developed his distinctive style: shouting into the mike as the records played and ringing a cowbell.
Call Number: ML429.F75 J3 1991ISBN: 0028711564Publication Date: 1995-02-01
Let's Rock!: How 1950s America Created Elvis and the Rock and Roll Craze by
Rock & roll was one of the most important cultural developments in post-World War II America, yet its origins are shrouded in myth and legend. Let's Rock reclaims the lost history of rock & roll. Based on years of research, as well as interviews with Bo Diddley, Pat Boone, and other rock & roll pioneers, the book offers new information and fresh perspectives about Elvis, the rise of rock & roll, and 1950s America. Rock & roll is intertwined with the rise of a post-World War II youth culture, the emergence of African Americans in society, the growth of consumer culture, technological change, the expansion of mass media, and the rise of a Cold War culture that endorsed traditional values to guard against communism. Richard Aquila's book demonstrates that early rock & roll was not as rebellious as common wisdom has it. The new sound reflected the conservatism and conformity of the 1950s as much as it did the era's conflict. Rock & roll supported centrist politics, traditional values, and mainstream attitudes toward race, gender, class, and ethnicity. The musical evidence proves that most teenagers of the 1950s were not that different from their parents and grandparents when it came to basic beliefs, interests, and pastimes. Young and old alike were preoccupied by the same concerns, tensions, and insecurities. Rock & roll continues to permeate the fabric of modern life, and understanding the music's origins reminds us of the common history we all share. Music lovers who grew up during rock & roll's early years as well as those who have come to it more recently will find Let's Rock an exciting historical and musical adventure.
Call Number: ML3534.3 .A75 2016ISBN: 9781442269361Publication Date: 2016-10-28
Doo-Wop: The Forgotten Third of Rock 'n' Roll by
A must have source for music collectors! Thoroughly documents the Doo-Wop music of 1950 through the early '70s. Gribin & Schiff give definitions and illustrations of the nonsensical phraseology in music that fell between rhythm and blues and rock'n roll.
Call Number: ML3527 .G75 1992ISBN: 0873411978Publication Date: 1992-05-01
It Came from Memphis by
"Delta bluesmen, a peanut vendor, a matinee cowboy, a professional wrestler, a manic deejay - these were the intersections where cultures collided in Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1950s. It Came from Memphis documents through firsthand accounts how an audience of white teenagers, caught in the middle of this extraordinary confluence of music, entrepreneurship, and eccentricity, broke through the walls of institutional racism and helped usher in a new musical form called rock and roll." "Beginning with notorious deejay Dewey Philips and his show "Red, Hot & Blue," It Came from Memphis is a rollicking tale of street-corner jug bands, shady West Memphis, nightclubs, first bands and first hits, of hippie puppet shows and outdoor music festivals, and of learning the ropes of the music biz as the ropes were strung. It is also the story of how a generation of Southern white kids befriended a generation of Mississippi Delta blues artists, and what happened to Memphis and the music industry when these two ostracized cultures met and found mutual inspiration on society's margin." "Unlike previous books about Memphis, this one does not focus on Elvis Presley, Al Green, Sun and Stax studios. Instead, It Came from Memphis prefers the shadows cast by these institutions, focusing on artists like Jim Dickinson and Alex Chilton, and bands like Mud Boy and the Neutrons, the Mar-Keys, and Big Star. The result is an anecdotal, digressive, thoroughly informative and entertaining history of rock and roll's hometown."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Call Number: ML3477.8.M46 G67 1995ISBN: 0571198481Publication Date: 1995-02-01
American Bandstand: Dick Clark and the Making of a Rock 'n' Roll Empire by
"I don't make culture, I sell it" Dick Clark once remarked. Indeed, the man who reigned as host of American Bandstand for nearly four decades may not have invented rock 'n' roll, but he sold it to the American public better than anyone before or since. Before Clark, rock 'n' roll was the stepchild of radio--which took to playing records as a cost-saving measure after television siphoned off radios most lucrative sponsors. But it was network television--and specifically Clarks Bandstand--that ultimately legitimized what was then viewed by most adults as vulgar, low-class music,broadcasting a sanitized vision of rock 'n' roll straight into Americas living rooms five afternoons a week.Here is the first book to tell the full story of what happened in front of--and behind--the cameras on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, providing both a history of this landmark show and of the changing styles of rock 'n' roll over four decades. Based on extensive interviews with musicbusiness figures, recording stars, and Clark himself, and featuring dozens of rare or never before published photographs, this is a riveting and uncensored account of a show that managed to survive countless revolutions in popular music. Jackson describes Bandstands humble beginnings inPhiladelphias blue collar south side, the sex scandal that scuttled the first host of Bandstand and enabled Clark to launch his career, the glory days when an appearance on Bandstand was one of the most prized gigs in the music business and when teenagers lined up for blocks hoping to enter thestudio, and memorable Bandstand appearances by rock 'n' roll royalty from Chubby Checker and Frankie Avalon, to Jerry Lee Lewis and Jefferson Airplane, to Pink Floyd and Madonna. Here as well is a candid look at the backstage financial maneuvering that allowed Clark to launch a video andentertainment empire worth nearly $200 million dollars today. Voted Most Likely To Sell The Brooklyn Bridge by his high school classmates, Clark emerges as a cunning business impresario determined to make millions. Readers learn how Clark decided which eager young singers would appear on the show,how he managed to survive a 1959 Congressional payola investigation that destroyed the careers of many other popular disc jockeys, how much money he earned from his personal financial investments in many of the songs played on Bandstand, and his importance to ABC in its fledgling days as a nationaltelevision network.As entertaining as it is eye-opening, Dick Clark's American Bandstand will bring back a flood of memories to everyone who lived through that era. It will fascinate everyone interested in popular American culture or in rock 'n' roll history.
Call Number: ML3477 .J33 1997ISBN: 0195093232Publication Date: 1997-10-09
The Birth of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock 'n' Roll by
"A hot-rod joy ride through mid-20th-century American history" (The New York Times Book Review), this one-of-a-kind narrative masterfully recreates the rivalry between the two men who innovated the electric guitar's amplified sound--Leo Fender and Les Paul--and their intense competition to convince rock stars like the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton to play the instruments they built. In the years after World War II, music was evolving from big-band jazz into rock 'n' roll--and these louder styles demanded revolutionary instruments. When Leo Fender's tiny firm marketed the first solid-body electric guitar, the Esquire, musicians immediately saw its appeal. Not to be out-maneuvered, Gibson, the largest guitar manufacturer, raced to build a competitive product. The company designed an "axe" that would make Fender's Esquire look cheap and convinced Les Paul--whose endorsement Leo Fender had sought--to put his name on it. Thus was born the guitar world's most heated rivalry: Gibson versus Fender, Les versus Leo. While Fender was a quiet, half-blind, self-taught radio repairman, Paul was a brilliant but headstrong pop star and guitarist who spent years toying with new musical technologies. Their contest turned into an arms race as the most inventive musicians of the 1950s and 1960s--including bluesman Muddy Waters, rocker Buddy Holly, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton--adopted one maker's guitar or another. By 1969 it was clear that these new electric instruments had launched music into a radical new age, empowering artists with a vibrancy and volume never before attainable. In "an excellent dual portrait" (The Wall Street Journal), Ian S. Port tells the full story in The Birth of Loud, offering "spot-on human characterizations, and erotic paeans to the bodies of guitars" (The Atlantic). "The story of these instruments is the story of America in the postwar era: loud, cocky, brash, aggressively new" (The Washington Post).
Call Number: ML1015.G9 P66 2019ISBN: 9781501141652Publication Date: 2019-01-15
The Day the Music Died: The Last Tour of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritche Valens by
Through in-depth interviews with friends, surviving musicians, and others, a study chronicles the events prior to the plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, J. P. Richardson, and Richie Valens on February 3, 1959.
Call Number: ML420.H595 L44 1997ISBN: 0028647416Publication Date: 1997-11-01
Articles
- "Chuck Berry: Rock Lives!" by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 4 March 1967
- "Little Richard: A Living Legend in His Time" by Eden, KRLA Beat, 28 May 1966
- "The Isley Brothers: Two Generations of Innovation" by Joe McEwen, Phonograph Record, June 1976
- "Wanda Jackson: Hard-Headed Woman" by Rob Hughes, Record Collector, February 2007
- "Jerry Lee Lewis: Goodness Gracious" by Gavin Martin, Spin, June 1989
- "Buddy Holly: The Lost Boy" by Greil Marcus, Mojo, October 2004
- "The Men Who Makes the Blues: Bo Diddley" by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 20 September 1969
- "The Neglected Shirelles" by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 12 January 1963
- "Elvis Presley: The Return of the King" by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 4 March 2010
- "Welcome to Ray Charles" by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 10 May 1963
- Rock's BackpagesAn archive of music journalism and popular music writing of the last 60 years. Includes 38,000 articles on all subcategories of popular music.
Archival Materials
Stephane and David Booth Collection, 1954-2021
This collection contains photographs, sheet music, concert programs, concert and movie posters, movie lobby cards, and ephemera related to Elvis Presley. Collected by Stephane and David Booth, this collection also includes a music score of the song "Jailhouse Rock" and film prints from the 1957 film Jailhouse Rock.
J. Taylor Doggett Collection, 1991-2005
This collection includes extensive research materials, such as audio, videos, photographs, correspondence, and other printed materials, on the doo-wop group, the "5" Royales.
John Edwards Memorial Foundation Records, circa 1930s-1980s
The John Edwards Memorial Foundation is dedicated to the study of the study of twentieth-century American folk music. This collection contains promotional materials of early rockabilly and rhythm and blues artists, such as Chuck Berry, Wanda Jackson, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley.
Raymond H. Pulley Collection, 1954-1958
This collection contains photographs and Sun Records audio recordings of Elvis Presley. In particular, this collection includes an interview with Elvis Presley and members of the Carter Family at the Norfolk Municipal Auditorium on February 12, 1956 (FT-12810).
Peter Guralnick Collection, 1935-2021
Peter Guralnick is a writer who writes significantly on the early history of rock music. This collection includes interview audio recordings and research materials pertaining to Elvis Presley. Some of the interviews conducted by Guralnick are with the other pioneers of rock music, such as Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Barbara Barnes Sims Collection, 1957-1960
Barbara Barnes Sims worked in public relations at Sun Records from 1957 to 1960. Her collection contains correspondence, promotional photographs, and other publicity materials relating to 1950s rock musicians, such as Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Elvis Presley.
Edward Weiss AKA "Charlie Brown" Collection, 1950s-2020
Edward Weiss was a disc jockey, known as Charlie Brown, in the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia. His collection includes interviews with Clyde McPhatter, Bo Diddley, The Platters, The Crests, Frankie Lymon, Carl Perkins, Duane Eddie, Dion DiMucci, Ahmad Jamal, Dakota Staton, and Keely Smith. Most notably, there is a recorded interview with Buddy Holly (FT-13051).
Audio
The Music Library holds more than 60,000 sound and video recordings you can check out. Use the library catalog to find their call numbers, then ask for them at the Music Library Circulation Desk.
- Use ALL FIELDS search.
- Refine your search (to CD, Vinyl record, Audiocassette, etc) with limiters on the left side of the screen
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Ex. ALL FIELDS: Chuck Berry |
Ex. ALL FIELDS: Rhythm and blues music |
Pay attention to the item's location; there are several collections on campus that have music materials.
When you find a recording you are interested in, click on its Subject tab to find similar items. If the item you want is checked out or we don't own it, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan.
Videos
Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built by
Follows the career of Atlantic Records co-founder, Ahmet Ertegun, and examines Atlantic Records' impact on the evolution of popular music while offering an insider's look at the recording industry from its infancy to today. Features rare clips, performances, and studios sessions of Atlantic recording artists.
Call Number: DVD-801Publication Date: 2007
Kings of Rock and Roll by
A concert at Wembley on August 5, 1970, in the form of a bow to Rock N'Roll with some essential figures of the genre. Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, and Bill Haley are either in their 40s or close to it. Damaged characters, proven alcoholics, irregular junkies, some of whom have been in prison, they are defiant rebels. They already seem like dinosaurs compared to the generation of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, who nevertheless did not fail to draw on their repertoire. If the performances of Bill Haley – the first to popularize Rock N' Roll with "Rock Around The Clock," the theme song of the film Blackboard Jungle – and of Jerry Lee Lewis are not to be neglected, those of Little Richard and Chuck Berry have a completely different flavor. Both are black artists who enjoyed incredible popularity both in their community and with white audiences, a rare phenomenon in the 1950s/1960. With a vibrant voice that foreshadows James Brown and a flamboyant outfit, Little Richard who does not hide his homosexual inclinations (the song "Tutti Frutti"), performs brilliantly "Rit It Up," "Tutti Frutti," "Lucille," "Good Golly Miss Molly." The star of the evening is undoubtedly Chuck Berry. In high spirits, he lets loose, without forgetting his famous "duckwalk," in long riffs between the verses of songs that will never get old. Included in the repertoire that night: "School Days," "Sweet Little Sixteen," "Memphis Tennessee," "Reelin' & Rocking," "Wee Wee Hours," and "Oh Carol". How can you not melt with pleasure on hearing this catchy style?
Call Number: OnlinePublication Date: 1972Hail! Hail! Rock 'n Roll by Reveals the man behind the legend by portraying rock's founding father. Capped by Berry's star-studded concert in St. Louis.
Call Number: 65-V1717Publication Date: 1988
Suggested Subject Headings
"Rock music -- To 1961"
"Doo-wop (Music)"
"Rhythm and blues music"
"Rockabilly music"
"Rock-'n-roll"
Pictorial Works
The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll by
A fascinating look at the history of Sun Records, the label that started Rock n' Roll, told through 70 of its iconic recordings. In Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1950s, there was hard-edged blues playing on Beale Street, and hillbilly boogie on the outskirts of town. But at Sam Phillips' Sun Records studio on Union Avenue, there was something different going on - a whole lotta shakin', rockin', and rollin'. This is where rock 'n' roll was born. Sun Records: the company that launched Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins. The label that brought the world, "Blue Suede Shoes," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," "Breathless," "I Walk the Line," "Mystery Train," "Good Rockin' Tonight." The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll: 70 Years of Sun Records is the official history of this legendary label, and looks at its story in a unique way: through the lens of 70 of its most iconic recordings. From the early days with primal blues artists like Howlin' Wolf and B.B. King to long nights in the studio with Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, you will see how the label was shaped and how it redefined American music. Accompanying the recordings is the label's origin story and a look at the mission of the label today, as well as "Sun Spot" sidebars--a fascinating dive into subjects such as how the iconic logo was created, the legendary Million Dollar Quartet sessions, and how the song "Harper Valley, PTA" funded the purchase of the label. Written by two of the most acclaimed music writers of our time, Peter Guralnick and Colin Escott, and featuring hundreds of rare images from the Sun archives as well as a foreword by music legend Jerry Lee Lewis, this is a one-of-a-kind book for anyone who wants to know where it all started.
Rockabilly by
It was the twang heard 'round the world: Rockabilly was born out of country, bluegrass, jazz, and the blues in the 1950s, becoming rock 'n' roll and ruling the world. Here's the story of Elvis Presley's first Sun records that inspired all. And here's Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and many more rockabillies from the golden years of 1955--1959, in a book chock full of photos, collectible memorabilia, movie posters, rare records, fashion, and rebel lifestyle. The story continues today, with a rockabilly revival that began with stars, such as the Stray Cats and Robert Gordon, spreading around the globe from Europe to Japan. Today, rockabilly is better than ever, with bands like Rev. Horton Heat and others playing the music and living the life from Memphis to Helsinki to Tokyo. There's still good rockin' tonight!
